A Lack of Rain and Your Water Garden

How important is rain to a pond, pondfree waterfall or other decorative water garden?

In normal conditions, we have mother nature to thank for filling our water features. But sometimes, her bountiful rain is no where in sight. A lack of rain has many consequences for our water features. Below are just a few.

It has been necessary to add water to our water features.

Right. This is obvious.  But when we have had adequate rain for most of the year and then suddenly it's dry, we are somewhat "out of practice" of topping off our features. We have to start actively remembering to add water. Don't forget to set a timer when you begin filling. It's very easy to forget the hose is running. Too much chlorinated water will kill your fish.

What happens when we don't keep our water features "topped off"?

If your pond has a skimmer and you don't keep enough water in the pond, your pump could run dry. Ouch, expensive mistake that's not covered under your warranty. Plus if the skimmer isn't functioning, your filtration system isn't working either.

Another result of not keeping your water feature filled -- no flushing! Whether it's rain or hose water, when water is added to our water features, it either flushes out the build up of nutrients in the water or it at least dilutes them. Nutrients in the water from decaying plant material, fish waste, uneaten fish food, etc. cause toxins in the water, poor water quality and will eventually feed algae!

When it rains, it's like our water features get a mini water change without us having to do any work!

Here's an easy way to keep your water feature filled.

At Cool Ponds, we are all about making things easy and low maintenance! Most of our water features at Cool Ponds have hoses running to them with automatic hose timers. So each day the hose comes on for a little while to keep the feature topped off. Sometimes, when it rains, the features will get overfilled. That's OK -- more flushing! There's very little water being added compared to the total water volume of the pond so no dechlorinator is required.

Photo: Hose timer. We love these!

The photo above is a hose timer. It's connected to a four way valve so we can connect four hoses to a single spigot. (We have hoses hidden everywhere!) As you can see, it's going to run again at 11:48am. We purchased this particular timer at Home Depot for $30 plus the batteries. We love, love, love these things!

Hose timer vs. automatic fill valve

Side note: There are also items called automatic fill valves made by pond manufacturers that mount inside a skimmer or pondfree waterfall vault. They connect to an irrigation line. They have a float switch in them and theoretically allow water to flow when the water level becomes low. While many pond owners have these, in most cases we DO NOT recommend automatic fill valves. We have not found one yet that won't eventually become stuck open. (Probably due to the high lime content in our water.)  Once stuck open, a constant flow of chlorinated water flows into the pond which is dangerous for fish.

Keep all this in mind for the future when we are having a dry spell.